Saturday Night Bike Blogging: Gearing Up for the Commute

The votes are in. Commuting issues beat coast to coast cycling by a massive Two to One margin … that is, two votes for commuting issues, versus one vote for coast to coast cycling.

And this week I got some more gear for my cycle commute, so my mind seemed to turn to the topic of gearing up for the commute. Even before getting the cycle gear, it may be a good idea to make sure that your cycle is fit for that particular trail. If you’re riding across a rocky terrain, for example, you might want to look into mountain bikes from places like rei tucson.

Of course, any SNBB essay is also … probably primarily … a cycling open thread … so whatever your cycling thought, observation, or recollection, drop on in.

Objects in the Rear View Mirror May Be Closer Than They Appear

One of the new bits of gear that showed up this week was a rearview mirror. And its a great thing to have.

For one thing, (true confessions time) I have a tendency to get out of the way of big trucks … semis, gravel trucks, etc. … and every once in a while my ears have told me that one was overtaking me, and when I get out of the way its just a overweight pickup truck on steroids. With a rear view mirror, I can tell the difference, and the bloody gas hog can just wait for a chance to pass like any other car.

The mirror I have is the one on the left:

I’m not necessarily recommending the velcro strap style in particular … it needs more fussing than one that plugs onto or into the handlebar … but the oval shape is great. I am always aware that my piece of junk may give up the ghost, and so I look for gear that can be swapped over fairly easily … but others may prefer a more securely mounted version, like the multi-mount (mountain bike or drop handlebar) above on the right.

A hidden benefit of one of these mirrors is that they extend your left profile, and motorists who might not much mind bumping your elbow may look on the mirror as something that could scratch the paintwork.

Lighting a Path

If anyone has any experience with the fancy halogen light bulbs with their big battery packs, I’d love to hear it. I am relying on LED front and rear lights … like these (but not these):

One thing that needs to be stressed if you are using an LED front light … even a five LED front light … you had better trail-blaze your route during the day. Even if you are used to driving it, your cycling perspective may be different … and if you have to rely on a map, that is amplified.

Also, the gear I had in Oz that I don’t yet have are rechargable Alkaline / NiMH batteries. Unless you are getting geared up under a massive finance constraint, get rechargeable batteries and a good recharger. Of course, if you get one of the $100+ halogen lighting systems, the recharging system will be included.

Adding a Trunk

In Oz, I started out with a decent size trunk with pannier drop-outs. However, I had a folding bike with the regular rack, so the drop-outs hit my heels. Even with that, I did like that style of trunk, which was kind of like the one one the left, but a bit roomier:

However, I like my current set up even more. I started out commuting (under the severe finance constraint alluded to above) with a canvas bag tied on my handlebar and flipped once around to secure the knot and keep the bag from rubbing the wheel. Of course, that meant I was bringing my inner tube and tools into work along with my lunch every day. I graduated to soft sided shopping bag panniers, kind of like the ones pictured above on the right, and I very much like the capacity of shopping bag panniers, especially when … well, shopping.

In addition to soft-sided grocery bag panniers, I have seen hard-side grocery bag panniers (1), laptop panniers (2), garment bag panniers (3) and the list goes on.

I love my soft side grocery bag panniers, but if left open for long periods, they begin to sag. So I added a rack trunk and ended up with a permanent store for my tools and spare tubes, rain cape, lock and chain, back up water supply, etc., plus the capacity of the grocery bag panniers when I need to carry more. Of course, trunks also come in a variety of shapes and styles … some rely on the “delta” style rack that juts out from the seat post, and others on the traditional rack that attaches to the rear wheel tubes and the back of the main frame. The third trunk here is the one I am using.

A Speedometer

When I first started riding a bike as a kid, a speedometer for a bike was called a “speedometer”. And so, when I found that I really did need to pace myself on such a long commute, it took a little for the penny to drop that they are now called “bike computers”. The basic gear is a magnet that clips onto a spoke of the front wheel, a pickup (my rudimentary electronics education assures me there is some kind of wound pick-up in there), and either a wire or transmitter to connect to the computer.

The computer has a clock, an ability to count how many times the wheel has revolved, and an entry that you have made as to how big the wheel is. From that my computer … which is a quite basic model … can give me speed, average trip speed, maximum speed, total trip distance, odometer (since installing the cycle computer, of course), and total time on the bike. Plus, a clock. The first three computers are wired $20 or less … the last one is a GPS unit with wireless pickups for speed, cycling cadence, and heart rate, and if I had more than $300 to spend on a cycle computer, I’d buy a folding bike instead.

The trick with installing a cycle computer is that the magnet has to pass less than the width of two pennies from the pick up. I had to re-adjust the spoke magnet and pick up twice before it started working, and about six weeks ago I had to adjust it again … probably a pothole jarred it slightly. Be aware that you may need to fiddle with it a bit to get it working.

A Little Entertainment

Its not absolutely vital to have a stereo, but as long as I’m adding gear that normally comes with a car, I may as well add a stereo. This was, of course, raised in the first SNBB … and after experimenting, I’ve been solidly converted to a little MP3 player with built-in FM radio, and over the neck earphones.

The concern was raised in the first SNBB that riding with that gear verges on suicidal … because its too important to be able to hear every nuance of the traffic behind. On the other hand, its as dangerous, if not more, to drive, and people drive all the time with the windows rolled up and the stereo playing.

I had an unexpected “opportunity” to experiment with the difference between earbuds and over the neck headphones, when the cord of my headphone were vacuumed and destroyed … and for me, the headphones win hands down. I put my helmet on first, put on the earphones, and then pull them back to sit on the back of my ears. Sometimes if the radio interviewee on the (Australian) ABC interview program is soft spoken, I miss a bit of it (NB. this is an MP3 podcast, not miraculous FM reception), but I find it gives a good mix of sound from the stereo and from the real world.

Coping with the Rain

Everything so far has involved adding things that normally come with a car but not with a bike. However, while we drag a cage around with us when motoring around, cycling is an outdoor activity. And sometimes, in the outdoors, it rains.

There are, of course, two different approaches to handling rain. One is to use some other transport when it rains. That was pretty much what I relied on in Oz … I took a bus or a cab when it was raining. I don’t have that luxury at the moment, since the bus starts running at the same time my shift starts, I couldn’t possibly afford a cab ride, and in any event, my current bike does not fold up to fit in the trunk of a cab like my commuter bike in Oz did.

I can report that, for me, a rain cape kind of works. This looks like a waterproof poncho, but it has an elastic strap at the back to go around your waist, and two elastic straps along the front to hang onto your fingers.

Two things are required to make the rain cape solution work well. The first is a  visor. Whether the rain cape has a hood under your helmet, or a collar and you wear a separate hood on top of your helmet, you need a stiff visor to keep rain off your face.

And the second is fenders. The rain cape allows air to circulate under the cape … and without a front fender, it allows the wheel to bring rain spray onto your legs. If you have a rack trunk, a rear fender is not as critical … although still handy … but a front fender is vital.

And last, but by no means least, water …

Even more important than keeping water off is getting water in.

The first water storage is, of course, built in. Before I set out on my 100 minute plus commute, I drink a lot of water … I don’t measure it out, but its certainly more than half a quart. In addition to that, I have my main road water supply, which is a 700 ml plus water bottle, hanging from a rope from my handlebar. Properly this should be a proper cycling water bottle in a water bottle cage attached to the frame, and if I get called in four or fives days for the next four weeks, I may actually get there. But the important thing is to have water at hand.

My third water storage is another 700ml plus water bottle that I keep in the trunk. I normally fill this half full of water the night before, and freeze it, filling it the rest of the way in the morning. I do the same before heading back. Mind you, its not every morning that its hot enough to want ice cold water … but those are the mornings when I hit the second bottle. And on 80 plus days, its great.

So, what bike gear do you find essential?

And/or, what bike gear do you find a waste of time/money, and/or what amusing bike gear breakdown stories do you have to tell … or …

… or what story do you have to tell about the annoying dog that turned into a commute route friend. Like I said, the thread is open.